Canadian folk singer-songwriter Matthew Swann records under the name Astral Swans. He’s back with a new, self-titled record, which includes a few great duets with fellow songwriter Julie Doiron. (Also, we’ve been doing this for 300 weeks. We’re old.)
Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay’s second album as LUMP is our recommendation of the week. It can be easy to dismiss these songs as scraps from whatever doesn’t find their way into Marling’s “main” albums. But those ideas, coupled with Lindsay’s marvellous synth work, come to have a life of their own here, and “Animal” has some of the best tracks we’ve heard from both musicians in a while.
First highlight of 2017: Natalie Hemby’s Puxico.